First Coast lawyer helps Boston boat owner; boat hideout hits close to home

Local attorney John Phillips tweets that he will send check to Boston boat owner.

John Phillips plans to mail out a check with a written letter to the owner of the boat in which the second suspected Boston marathon bomber was hiding in.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla -- A local man is pitching in to help the Boston homeowner whose actions led to the arrest of the second Boston marathon bombing suspect.

Also on the First Coast, residents compare the capture to a similar one that happened in Jacksonville.

Support for the Watertown man who found suspected Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in his boat in his backyard has been pouring in from across the U.S. with reports that people are donating money to help David Henneberry get a new boat. One of those people lives right here in Jacksonville.

"There's nothing worse than a lost limb or lost loved one that's just tragedy unspeakable but if a good citizen can be rewarded kind of the old pay it forward, it makes me feel good," said John Phillips, attorney.

John Phillips is a local attorney. Friday night he tweeted he would send a $1,000 check to Henneberry to help him get a new a boat.

"This guy is a hero for doing what everybody tells us to do which is if you hear something say something," said Phillips.

A massive manhunt in Boston this week also served as a reminder of a search for a suspect on the Westside of Jacksonville back in 2010. Police officers searched for five days to find Christopher Scott Kilgore, a man wanted for allegedly killing his brother, his brother's friend, and then reportedly shooting his own parents.

"There was all the SWAT surrounding our roads and they were just going up through the woods back there looking for him," said Jeff Mire, a Westside resident.

Police found Kilgore on a boat mounted on a trailer. Reports say he refused to surrender and police officers fired about 28 times. Kilgore died on scene. Jeff Mire says he went to high school with Kilgore and this week's Boston capture was all too familiar.

"I heard they found him in a boat the same way they found him (Kilgore). So it kind of brought all the memories back of when they found him," said Mire.

The capture in Boston has brought the country together. And Phillips hopes to more will pay it forward to help the Watertown hero and the victims of the marathon bombing.

The Governor of Massachusetts and the Mayor of Boston have set up One Fund Boston account to aid the families of the victims. To learn more click here.